Three words can be stressed in the first verse:
troubled. Be not cast down and disquieted. He knew what it was like (John 11:33; 13:31).
heart. Let your heart, the seat of spiritual life, the centre of feeling and faith (Romans 10:10), be kept with full trust in God.
your. Plainly they were concerned at what the Lord had just said. But Christ's disciples, more than others, should keep their minds quiet, when everything else was disturbed.
The second part of the verse probably reads "keep on believing in God and in me." The word believe in both cases can be translated in either the indicative or the imperative. The remedy for a troubled state of mind is to keep on believing.
There are many mansions (resting-places) in the Father's house. Christ's picture of heaven here is the most precious one that we possess: it is our heavenly home with the Father and with the Lord. It was customary to send someone forward to prepare a resting place, as the ark went before the people (Numbers 10:33), symbol of Jesus our Forerunner (Hebrews 6:20).
As surely as He was going, He will return, and will take them (and all believers) along to His own home. The return of Christ to take His followers is not the same as His return in glory to reign on earth; it is the first intimation in Scripture of "the day of Christ", a mystery to be disclosed later by Paul (1 Corinthians 1:8, 15:51).
The day of Christ relates wholly to the reward and blessing of saints at His coming, whereas day of the Lord is connected with judgement. And this is heaven for the believer to be where Jesus is and with him forever: the New Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12, 21:2).
He alluded to the puzzle of Peter (chapter 13:36) by saying they now knew where He was going, and the path He was taking. But Thomas, at least, did not understand where He was going, so as to be able to follow Him, and wanted more explanation.
The Lord then spoke the words which are a classic summary of His mission:
He is the Way: like the door (chapter 10:7), Christ is the sinner's Way to the Father and to heaven, as God manifest in the flesh, in his atoning sacrifice, and as our Advocate.
He is the Truth: He spoke the way of God in truth (Mark 12:14) and was the light of the world (chapter 8:12); in the light of His doctrine, His miracles and the spotless purity of His life, we see the revelation of God to man in all Truth.
He is the Life: as He had said to Martha (chapter 11:25), for it is by His life-giving Spirit that the spiritually dead in sin are raised to eternal life.
No one, in his sin, can approach God the Father, until he has been cleansed in the blood of Christ, from Whom he receives a new life and a new spirit.
Thomas and the rest had not yet come to the point of seeing Jesus as the Son of God, much as they loved him. When they did, from that time on, they would realise that God the Father was like Him (chapter 1:18).
Philip certainly did not grasp all this, and asked "only" for the Lord to show them the Father. The Lord patiently repeated "he who has seen Me has seen the Father;" He had a right to expect greater faith from these men than from the blind man (chapter 9:35) or Martha (chapter 11:27). This oneness with the Father was evidenced by his words and his works (chapter 10:38). As He had done before to the Jews (chapter 10:38), He appealed for Philip to believe in Him, if not because of what He said, then because of His works.
Most assuredly: another great statement of fact. He who believed in Him in this manner would do the same works as He did, and even more because He was going to the Father. Not necessarily greater miracles and not greater spiritual works in quality, but greater in quantity, the reason being that He had ended that part of His ministry. This prophecy was fulfilled by the apostles after Pentecost, and also by Paul - an evidence that he was also an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12). To do such works would be a sure proof again to themselves and all the people that they were the true messengers of the Son of God.
They would receive whatever they asked from the Father, if they did so in Christ's name: to ask in the Lord's name, is to plead as if He himself were asking for it, as His agents. It implies asking in His will. It is the first mention of his "name" as the access to the Father (see also chapter 15:16). Requests are to be made to the Father and not to the Son (chapter 16:23), yet the answer is given by the Father and the Son (verse 14, chapter 15:16, 16:23), so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Plead Christ's name in prayer to the Father.
To keep His commandments was evidence that they loved, and kept on loving Him. Continued love prevents disobedience.
And the Lord promised that, on His request, the Father would provide another Helper: the Greek word thus translated meant a legal assistant, pleader, advocate, one who pleads another's cause (it is translated advocate in 1 John 2:1). Christ is the believer's advocate with the Father when he sins; the Holy Spirit is the believer's indwelling legal assistant to help his ignorance and infirmity and to make intercession (Romans 8:26, 27), forever: the Holy Spirit is received by the believer on conversion (Romans 8:9) and never leaves him.
He is the Spirit of Truth: marked by it, gives it, defends it (John 1:17), in contrast to the spirit of error (1 John 4:6). He is a person, not a mere influence. Left to itself the sinful world is helpless (1 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8:7), lacking spiritual insight and spiritual knowledge. It failed to recognise the Lord Jesus (John 1:10) and likewise the Holy Spirit. The disciples knew Him, in contrast with the world (chapter 15:19), because they had seen Jesus the Revealer of the Father (verse 9). He was already by their side, and would later be in their hearts.
They would not be left behind like orphans (chapter 13:33), meaning perhaps helpless, without assistance. After His death the world would no longer see Him, yet He appeared to His disciples as He promised: "I will come to you" and "you will see Me." His resurrection is the proof that He lives and is our blessed guarantee of immortal, eternal life. He is the surety of a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22), the Risen Christ Jesus.
At that day, beginning with His resurrection, and later at the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they would know for certain that Christ is in the Father, and that they are united with Christ. He who has the Lord's commandments and keeps them proves that he loves Him; he will be loved by God the Father and The Unseen and Risen Christ will be a real and spiritual Presence to him.
Another disciple asked for explanation: it was Judas (also called Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus [Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:17] and the brother [or son] of James [John 6:15; Acts 1:13]). How could the Lord manifest Himself to the one He loves and not be seen by the world?
The Lord answered that he who really loves Christ, obeys Him; God the Father loves such a person because of this, and, together with Christ, will be with him as Their home (indwelling by the Holy Spirit). This privilege is confined to such persons, and it is implied that because it is an indwelling, it is not visible to the world. He who does not love the Lord, does not obey Him. This was God the Father's words.
1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
4 "And where I go you know, and the way you know."
5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--
17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18 "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
19 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
20 "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"
23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.